The whole point of calling a spy or undercover informant a “mole” is that he’s burrowed deeply into an organization, thus making him more difficult to uncover.
Not so much with Gawker’s “Fox Mole.” Less than 24 hours after his triumphant debut, Mediaite reports:
A Fox News spokesperson revealed to Mediaite that they have already discovered the mole’s identity.
Here is the brief statement from the spokesperson:
“We found the person and we’re exploring legal options at this time.”
This whole thing interests me, not because anything this “mole” has revealed is very interesting — it isn’t — but because of what it says about the current* media landscape. Here we are in the middle of a media-concocted firestorm over a shooting in Florida, with multiple instances of incredibly irresponsible (if not outright fraudulent) reporting about the shooter, and lefties are getting all excited because some disgruntled Fox News employee is writing about the time Bill O’Reilly took a crap next to him.
Gawker enticed this very silly “mole” into giving them a traffic boost for a day or two, in return for ruining his own career and opening himself up to legal consequences. I don’t know why anybody would trust Nick Denton in the first place, but after today, you’d have to be even dumber than this “mole” was.
Speaking of which, it seems to me that Rule #1 of remaining a mole is not to tell everybody you’re a mole. But clearly this mole is too smart for that:
So Fox’s PR team has been telling people that they have “found” me and are presently “exploring legal options.” If Fox has smoked me out, it’s news to me. I’m still here. Back to work.
Oh, he’s a crafty one, this mole. Why wait until they give a name? Get right out there and provide more evidence.
They said they found him, not that they fired him. But other than that, I’m sure he’s just fine.
P.S. And yes, I’m assuming this person is male, because girls are smarter than boys.
P.P.S. For a change of pace, here are some moles with careers ahead of them.
*No pun intended, Al.
